Looks like: Voyeurism

I've really love sneaking a peek inside other people's lives via magazines, books and blogs such as The Selby and now you can look inside the closets and work spaces of interesting people at The Coveted and Where They Create. 1. Andy and Kate Spade's House (The Selby) 2. Mary-Kate Steinmiller's closet (The Coveted) 3. Paul Davies' studio (Where They Create)

Hearts

I've set up a little Valentine's Day display in the store to show off some of the sweet loved-up cards I have (there are more still to come). I took a lovely moss-covered branch I collected ages ago at Dwellingup and strung it with a cute little paper heart garland that I whipped up last night...then I pegged on the cards. Funny, I'm liking hearts more and more these days - I used to think they were too cutesy and girly but they're growing on me, especially nice wonky handmade ones :)

Also, I am so excited because the Yoshii towels have arrived! They are sooo incredibly soft and the colours are so pretty. Eko and I have already taken home a bunch for ourselves and I'm eyeing off a few others so you better be quick :)

PS Adding a few new things to the online store today so keep an eye on it...

NYC Top 10...#5 Fette Sau

Yes, I'm back on the food bandwagon! But you have to understand, we had so much good food! Which is why, in addition to telling you all about this awesome place I'm also going to give a quick mention to a few other delicious experiences we had in New York.

But first, Fette Sau! Meaning "fat pig" in German, this place is a seriously cool barbeque joint in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Here's how it works: you line up (in our case for about half an hour or maybe more, but it was totally worth it), you pick your meats from an impressive display in the cabinet (we had pork ribs, brisket, sausages and pulled pork - a delicious US bbq staple), you pick your sides (we had potato salad, broccoli, pickles, bread rolls and a particularly delicious coleslaw), you grab a drink and you sit yourselves down at one of the huge communal tables. The walls are covered with meat charts, the atmosphere is fantastic, and the food smoky and completely delicious! Yuuummm!

So...here are a few of the other amazing meals we had as part of our New York experience:

Breakfast at Tom's Restaurant. Oh my God, so good! These chocolate chip pancakes came with a selection of different homemade flavoured butters and maple syrup...plus of course I got a side of bacon (it had to be done). We also tried our first egg cream - a combination of soda water (or selzter as they say in those parts) and milk, it was completely delicious and yes, contained neither egg nor cream! I just love the bottomless coffee, too :)

Breakfast and pie at Bubby's. This one causes me great grief to recall, as I was really sick this day (recovering from a hideous stomach bug that we all caught, one by one) and could only eat a few mouthfuls of these delicious pancakes before feeling like I was going to be sick :( And I couldn't even taste the pie! And it was banoffee - my favourite! But this place was seriously fantastic. Shout out to Eko for giving us the heads up.

Breakfast at Cookshop (thanks again to Eko for this one!). This place had a lovely fit-out and atmosphere and really delicious food - I got more amazing pancakes (yes, more pancakes!). It was also right near the entrance to the High Line...more on that another day, though!

Breakfast at Mile End Delicatessen, a tiny Canadian-Jewish joint. James had these amazing-looking bagels and dad had the much-anticipated Canadian favourite, poutine. Again, we had to queue but it was absolutely worth it.

Lunch at Katz's Delicatessen. Established in 1888 (yes, 1888!), this place is an institution famed for their pastrami on rye (look at the size of that beast!) and that scene in "When Harry Met Sally". We couldn't wait to try it and it didn't disappoint.

Also absolutely worthy of a mention is lunch at Balthazaar, where I had one of the best steaks of my life with outrageously good chips and a herb butter - soooo yummy and particularly good because it was the first time I had felt really hungry since the dreaded sickness. It was almost worth getting sick just to enjoy a meal that much!

PS Sorry but I've failed on the Happy Friday post again - I blame the weird mid-week break for throwing me out of whack! Here's hoping you have a fantastic weekend, though, and that Bianca doesn't wreak too much havoc!

NYC Top 10...#6 Cobble Hill

One sunny morning in Brooklyn James and I explored the neighbourhoods of Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill.  I loved all these areas but probably my favourite was Cobble Hill. There was just a really nice, almost small-town atmosphere about the place and Court Street was lined with lovely little shops. The brownstones around here were particularly beautiful and James and I decided then and there that this is where we'll live one day :)

A few great spots we enjoyed in these neighbourhoods were Greenhouse, a great homewares shop in Boerum Hill (you might remember I mentioned it here), Book Court, a fantastic bookshop in Cobble Hill, and, best of all, Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain in Carroll Gardens. This is a renovated old-school pharmacy/soda shop, complete with all the original fittings and the most amazing menu of sundaes, egg creams, ice cream floats and just about everything else my sweet-loving heart could desire! I was in heaven.

*Last two photos from The Scout

PS I hope everyone had a fantastic Australia Day yesterday! We had a nice, relaxed day and finished up with a barbie with friends at City Beach :)

PPS I forgot to say a huge THANK YOU on Tuesday to everyone who came in last Saturday - or shopped online - in support of the Queensland flood victims. The donation has been made and I'm sure will play a small but significant role in helping those affected get back on their feet, so thank you so much for your help! xx

Messing around with flowers

 

There are few things in the world I love more than messing around with flowers. I spend way too much money on flowers for Mr Sparrow every week, but it makes me so happy to see them in the window and arranged throughout the shop in vessels of all shapes and sizes. I love a big vase of peonies or huge branches of blossoms, but I equally love a tiny single bloom in a bottle or jug. I have so many different containers of different shapes and sizes in the shop and I have so much fun working out what will look good in each one.

We spent some time at Dwellingup over the weekend and I had lots of fun picking bits and pieces from the vast garden down there are arranging them in whatever vessels I could find at hand. Mum has an amazing rose garden but there are also endless numbers of trees with beautiful foliage, flowers or fruits...plus of course the acres and acres of bush with all its delights. Even now, in mid-summer when everything is at its driest and a lot of things struggle, I had a plethora of beautiful flowers and branches to choose from.

I picked camelia branches with cute apple-like seed pods attached, some branches from a fruit tree I couldn't identify but which I thought might have been a persimmon with very young fruit, some sweet little leaves from one of my favourite trees, the Japanese maple, some pretty buddleia blossoms, and of course some roses. I then arranged them all into apothecary bottles and jugs that belonged to my grandmother. Sometimes the nicest arrangements happen almost as an accident: I had to pick quite a few rosebuds with very short stems so I made them into a little posy with the buddleia and it ended up being my favourite! I also really liked the combination of the Japanese maple and the persimmon (or whatever it was!) in the apothecary bottle, which was actually just a combination of leftover bits from the other arrangements.

We also came across loads of Eucalyptus bark in the bush, which James gallantly transported back to the house, and I had lots of fun playing around with it. It was amazingly strong and flexible! I made the two bow table centrepieces you can see here, plus a ring (below), which was kinda fun, and also some tealight shades made by cutting rectangular strips and wrapping them around with string. They worked really well so I'm going to work on them a bit more and maybe even sell them in the shop - who knows?

What else did we get up to at Dwellingup? Well, the rain (and cold) put an end to my ideas of lolling by the pool, so instead we took a bushwalk, picked vegies, read, had endless fun with the bark (see below!), cooked delicious meals from homegrown ingredients (chicken with forty cloves of mum's homegrown garlic and passionfruit soufflé with fruit from our vine), took baths and watched tennis. Wonderful :)

Tomorrow...more New York!

Looks like: Proenza Schouler

I love the images for the Proenza Schouler Spring-Summer 2011 Womens Ad Campaign by Willy Vanderperre. The make-up and the colours are so beautiful....and the clothes! (Images from frillr.com)

Don't forget...

...that you've only got until 5pm today (or midnight if shopping online) to make a donation to the victims of the Queensland floods via a purchase from Mr Sparrow. All profits from today's sales will be donated to the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal so please drop by and help out if you can! Thanks xx